


half pint

by thexfilesbabe



Category: The X-Files
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Domestic Fluff, Emily Arc (X-Files), Fluff, Kid Fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-30
Updated: 2020-03-30
Packaged: 2021-02-28 18:07:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,145
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23401213
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thexfilesbabe/pseuds/thexfilesbabe
Summary: “Hi Mulder,” she whispers.“What are you doing?” he whispers back.“Hiding.”
Relationships: Fox Mulder/Dana Scully
Comments: 5
Kudos: 81





	half pint

**Author's Note:**

> this was an ask-box prompt on tumblr. i had to include the lines: “What are you doing?” “Hiding.” and “You’re so cute!!!” 
> 
> i kind of cheated on the second one but mom said this is my fic and i get to choose the dialogue

He’s standing outside her door, not really sure why he’s there. That’s not true, he knows exactly why he’s here. He’s been fighting the pull of her presence, the joy of her company, the warmth she exudes and makes him feel, for weeks. So many people know her as The Ice Queen of the Hoover Building with her scalpel sharp shoulder pads and critical gaze. They’re all so wrong about her. She’s warm and kind, compassionate with her words and gentle with her hands. She is as trustworthy as she is stubborn and devoted to those she loves. Scully doles out pieces of herself sparingly and only to those she trusts implicitly and he feels like the luckiest son of a bitch alive to be one of the few she has chosen.

Summoning his courage, he raises his hand and knocks and she’s at the door in record time. Usually he’s forced to wait, fidgeting with the zipper on his down winter jacket or scuffing the tip of his shoe over and over her impossibly clean welcome mat. Sometimes he even has to fight to urge to walk away, amble down the stairs and straight back to Alexandria. His psychiatrist would tell him that his urge to run is fueled by his anxiety over the uncertainty he feels in their relationship - that is, if he still saw his psychiatrist with any regularity. But this time, he doesn’t have time to fiddle with his coat or dirty her mat or ponder his generalized anxiety disorder because seconds after he raps on her door, she’s swinging it open and pulling him inside by the cuff of his sleeve.

He’s surprised to say the least, and his face must show it because once she shuts the front door, she’s looking up at him with a bright smile on her face. He can hear a child counting lackadaisically in another room, skipping numbers and inventing new ones. 

“Hi Mulder,” she whispers.

“What are you doing?” he whispers back.

“Hiding.”

She darts into the kitchen, squeezing herself between two chairs and settling beneath the kitchen table. And he has absolutely no idea what is happening. She beams at him from her hiding spot and brings a finger to her lips, a silent command.

Then, he hears a small voice giddy with excitement yell, “Ready or not, here I come!”

And just like that, Scully sees it click for him. He grins. His eyes dart around the living room, still standing next to her front door. Leaving his shoes on, something he would never do in any situation less dire, he clambers into the small coat closet, folds his limbs around himself, and shuts the door. From the sliver of light let into the dark closet, Mulder can see Scully’s camel coat, her leather and suede and down. And tucked in between them is a tiny purple rain coat, a blue winter jacket with mittens attached to the sleeves. He smiles, his heart warm.

The pitter-patter of bare feet crescendos closer. He can hear Emily running through the living room, giggles bouncing off the walls. Then, a loud peal of laughter.

“Dana! I found you!”

“Yes you did, baby. You’re too good at this game!” A chair screeches across the tile and Emily squeals as Scully wraps her in a hug, still on her knees, and showers her in kisses, blows a raspberry under her chin.

“Okay, my turn to hide.”

“Just a second. You haven’t found everyone just yet.” Emily screws up her face into a disbelieving stare. Scully smiles, seeing a hint of that resemblance Mulder is always going on and on about. A Half-Pint Scully, he’d called her one night over undercooked Kraft Mac n’ Cheese and apple juice. _Maybe more of a quarter pint. You’re just a Half-Pint Scully yourself, Scully._ She’d hid her smile behind her hand and stood to clear their empty bowls.

Scully stands and reaches down to take Emily’s hand. She follows her without question, trusting her mother, her Dana, to lead her. She pulls her into the living room and nods her head towards the closet door.

“Someone else is hiding in here,” Scully jerks her head towards the door again and tugs on her daughter’s arm, “….somewhere.”

Emily smiles, her dimpled cheeks rosy and slightly sticky from her afternoon snack, ants on a log sans ants. Scully squeezes her hand once and nods, and Emily sees her smile mirrored back to her, less sticky, but encouraging and joyful just the same.

She skips over to the door and places her hand on the brass doorknob. Pausing, she turns back to Scully who widens her eyes and nods animatedly. Emily turns the knob.

“Gotcha!!!” She squeals. Then, “Mulder! It’s you!” And before he knows it, Emily is throwing her pudgy little arms around his neck. He wraps his arms around her, lifting her off the ground and standing up with her still clinging to him.

“Hey, Em,” he chuffs out. 

Scully is looking at him with that unbearably soft smile she’s been throwing his way more and more often these last few months. He smiles back, giving her daughter a squeeze.

“Mulder, did you come to play with us?” Scully’s soft smile turns into a full on grin. She’s been giving him more of those lately too, more grins and more laughs, big belly laughs and soft, tinkling giggles. Motherhood has softened her, he thinks sometimes when he is home alone in his dingy apartment full of dust bunnies and newly acquired Disney VHS tapes. It’s made her more vulnerable and open, open to her daughter, and, he thinks - hopes - open to him.

“You bet.”

“Yay!” Mulder shifts Emily onto his hip, both arms encircling her protectively. She removes her arms from his neck and rests one hand on his shoulder. “We’re playing hide and seek. Dana isn’t very good, but that’s okay, she just needs some more practice I think.”

Scully widens her eyes at Mulder in shock and lets out a scoff. “Thanks, Em.”

“Maybe Mulder can help you hide next time.”

“Hey, there’s an idea, Scully,” Mulder winks at her. She rolls her eyes. He loves this. He loves their banter and playing with (their) her daughter and seeing Scully smile. He loves Emily’s sweet smelling hair, the drawings she sends to the office with Scully of his fish and the park full of aliens, the way she hugs him so warm and honest, and frankly he just loves her, this tiny Quarter Pint Scully.

Scully crosses the room and pinches Emily’s cheek, “You’re lucky you’re so cute.” Emily giggles. “Now, it’s my turn to count. You two better find some good hiding places,” Scully begins walking backwards towards the hallway. “I’m a much better seeker.”

Another grin at Mulder and she’s gone.

Oh. And he loves her too.

**Author's Note:**

> i love constructive criticism, or just comments in general! comment here or find me on tumblr @thexfilesbabe


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